Fire Was My Only Friend
by TaylorBlakeJones
Summary: Prince Zuko has just been banished, and a young woman is recruited for his ship. She has talent with firebending, but will she be able to survive on a ship full of people who think she is worthless?
1. Chapter 1 : The Girl No One Cared About

.[Chapter 1: The Girl That No One Cared About. 

"Get away from there you street rat!" Yelled a woman from behind her.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Nuri protested.

"You were too! I know your type. Now, leave, before I call the guards on you!" The woman yelled. Nuri just kept walking until she came to the abandoned stable where she lived.

Just as she arrived, it began to rain.

"Stupid rain. Stupid Stable!" She complained as she walked inside.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" She yelled to no one at all.

The stable in witch she resided was very old and in desperate need of repairs. The roof could barely be called a roof, because it leaked so badly. She sat down on the wet ground and, after a while, fell asleep. When she woke she heard the sound of a man's deep, loud voice echoing through the town.

"Citizens of the Fire Nation, it is my duty to inform you that the leader of our great nation, Fire Lord Ozai, has requested some new recruits for the Fire Nation Military. Sign up, and defend our great nation!"

Nuri thought to herself, I am going to join, I mean, I can bend pretty well, and it would sure beat sleeping here.

She got up and stretched, noticing her wet clothes.

"Aww jeez."

She plodded over to a corner with a wooden box and opened it. Inside were her only change of clothes; wrinkled and smelly, but she took the dress out anyway. She put her wet dress into the box after she removed it from her shivering body. She sighed as she put on the dry dress; a plain robe with a red sash in the middle. After dressing she turned to the door and opened it with more force than was necessary, and closed it the same way.

As she walked down the ally, the sun shone on her tanned face and made her mood lighter. She passed a cart with fine ruby jewelry, and another with fresh fruit. She grabbed an apple out of the cart and placed a bronze coin in the merchant's hand.

"Bless you miss." He said.

She glanced over at him, noticing that he looked even poorer than her. She pitied the man, but she had nothing left to give. She had just spent her last bronze piece. The apple tasted sweet on her tongue and she enjoyed every last bit of it.

"Join the Fire Nation Army!" Boomed the deep voice she had awoken to, and she drifted toward it.

She saw a group of young men gathered together around a soldier who was probably a new recruit himself. They were boasting about what they were going to do when the got out on the battle field.

"One blast of fire from me and all those sissy waterbenders will go running back home to the poles where they belong!" One said arrogantly.

"Oh yeah? Well I won't even have to do anything; they'll just see me and go running." Said another.

"Because you're so ugly!" Returned the first.

"No, because of my awesomeness!" Snapped the second.

The first one scoffed and then turned to write his name on a piece of parchment the soldier held out to him. Nuri grabbed the quill from him and wrote her name under his.

"Be at the palace gates at dawn tomorrow, bright and early." Smiled the young soldier.

"Won't you be needed somewhere, like cleaning house, or maybe making supper?" Someone called from behind her.

Nuri just rolled her eyes and walked away from the crowd.

"Wait, doll face, you forgot your mop!"

The crowd erupted into roaring laughter. Nuri seethed.

"Hey doll face-"

Her brow furrowed as she whipped around and shot a ball of fire at the outspoken man. It caught him off guard and he fell backwards. It didn't burn him, but it knocked him backwards and singed his shirt.

"And don't expect me to clean your shirt for you."

She turned on her heel and started to walk towards the edge of town, but she had the strange sense she was being followed.

"You know, it's never wise to lose your temper."

Nuri whirled around only to see a clothesline bearing filthy clothes and the dusty street on which she stood. There was no one there.


	2. Chapter 2 : Ash

-.: Chapter 2: Ash :.- 

"Who's there?" Nuri asked with clenched fists as she took a fighting stance. "Show yourself!"

Nuri watched as a tall, lanky boy came walking from behind a house. He wore a deep red shirt that was not tattered or dirty in any way. A black strap went around his waist and tied at his hip, and he wore plain brown pants with a hole in one knee.

He had golden amber eyes that reminded her of her father. How she missed her father, it had been almost 3 years since he had left on that crazy crusade for the Fire Lord. He said it was his duty, it was only honorable to fulfill your duty.

_"What about me daddy, am I not your duty?" She remembered._

_"Not anymore. Be strong until I return."_

Her memories drifted away as her attention was brought back to reality.

The boy was still coming nearer, she noticed that his bare feet made no noise as he walked towards her and they made no noise when he stopped.

She scoffed when she saw he was staring at her expectantly.

"Well, I showed myself, now what?"

"What do you want?" Nuri asked, not lowering her hands.

"Want? What makes you think I want anything? I was just giving you advice."

"Yeah? Well I don't take advice from people like you. And you'll leave me alone if you know what's good for you."

The stranger laughed to himself as he turned to leave down the filthy street.

"What's your name?" Nuri asked him earnestly. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something that made her want to know more about him.

"Ash." He said, keeping his back toward the girl.

"I'm Nuri." She shouted to him as he got farther and farther away. "See you around?"

"Definitely."

She watched him until he disappeared around a corner, and then immediately took off in the direction he went.

Walking past wealthy merchants shouting at her and filthy farmers with their ostrich horses or simply people running errands, she realized that it would be nearly impossible to find Ash in these crowds.

So she drifted slowly through the crowds and stopped at a jewelry cart and pretended to be interested.

"And those, my dear, are made of pure gold with ruby accents from mines deep in the earth nation. Pretty jewelry for a pretty lady." Pressed the merchant, holding up a georgous pair of earings adorned precous.

"I see, and how much would these earrings cost?"

"200 Gold pieces." He replied heartily as he placed his hands on his belly and chuckled.

"I'll have to pass on those." She replied.

She smiled sweetly and drifted to another cart where she looked at fine silk robes. Again she pretended to be interested and then went off to look at other fine things. She walked through the merchant square and into the less crowded streets where she entered a bakery.

"Nuri, Hun, your late again! Well, get your apron on and get to work!"

"Good morning Nana." Giggled Nuri as she tied the strings of her stained white apron around her back.

Nana was the only family Nuri had left in the city, but she thought of it as quality, not quantity. And to Nuri, Nana had as much quality as anyone.

Nana was a chubby old woman in her 60's that always smelled like a loaf of bread. Her gray hair was almost always in a tight bun on top of her head, and she wore plain pink robes around her large belly. Though she was old in appearance, her gold eyes shined whenever she giggled, and her spirit was firey and youthful.

Nuri loved her more than anything in the world.

Nana started to pour a cup of tea and she looked up, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, Nuri, I just remembered. I'm not going to be able to give you your bending lessons tonight; I have to go play Pi Sho with the gals. Rani says the ladies are itching for another game, so I say lets give them a game! We have quite a strategy you know, with the lotus tile and all that. They are gonna be in for it now!"

"Nana!" Nuri cut her off as she pointed to the cup of tea Nana was pouring.

Tea was running over the edges of the cup and onto a the lap of a very annoyed customer.

"Oh silly me, let me get a towel for you." Nana apologized to the customer as she rushed to the back room.

"Dang you Lena! Get that pig-chicken out of my kitchen!" Nana screamed from the back room.

Nuri giggled as she walked to the counter and took someone's order.

As she was making change someone caught her eye at the back table, she sighed happily as she handed her customer their change, and went to help Nana in the back room.


	3. Chapter 3 : So We Meet Again

.[Chapter 3: So We Meet Again. 

Nuri walked out of the bakery, paycheck in tow, and closed the door quietly. She stepped slowly and quietly through the dark streets to avoid arriving at the stable. Humming quietly to herself, she sat down on the edge of a fountain and pulled a warm loaf of bread from the sleeve of her dress. After looking all around her, she took a bite of the fresh bread and smiled.

Nana did always make the best bread.

As she went to take another bite she heard something rustle behind her.

She jumped up and whirled around.

"So we meet again." Said a man's voice calmly.

Nuri took a step closer to the stranger, and, realizing who he was, she smiled.

"Ash."

"That's me." He grinned as he started to walk down the dusty street.

"Are you coming?"

Smiling, Nuri ran up beside him.

"How did you know where to find me?" Nuri asked.

"Lucky guess. Look, I know it's kinda weird for me to just meet you here but.. I just thought you seemed interesting."

"Oh, well, I'm not." Nuri said flatly.

"Look, we both signed up for the military, and I thought it would be good to know someone beforehand. You know, to help each other out."

"That makes sense, I guess. But now you know me. Mission accomplished."

"What is your problem?" Ash said as he stepped in front of her, almost causing her to slam into him.

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired. Look, I gotta go. See you around?"

"Definitely." Ash said as he began to smile.

Nuri walked off in the direction of her stable, and without Nuri knowing, Ash followed. He plodded quietly through the allies and ducking into shadows whenever possible. If he got caught now, his whole plan was ruined. Ash froze as Nuri opened the door to the rickety stable and entered.

"Bingo." He breathed.

Ash took off running in the direction he came from. As he approached the fountain he slowed to a jog and then stopped all together. He plopped to the ground and panted. As his breathing began to even out he stood up again and walked off toward the public flower garden.

He had a bouquet to pick


	4. Chapter 4 : Early in the Morning

.[Chapter 4: Early in the Morning.

Nuri awoke well before dawn the next day, eager with anticipation to finally be doing something exciting. She also had a feeling that she hadn't seen the last of Ash, and was excited to see him again as well, even though she wouldn't dream of telling him that. Soon after waking up, she plodded across the stable drowsily until she stood in front of a rusty and cracked mirror that hung from the rickity wall. She gazed in and sighed, brushing her fingers through her long black hair. Her amber eyes were observant and lively, and often expressed her emotions when she was trying to hide them. Her full lips curled into a smirk as she brushed her bangs the way she liked them, loose and in her face, but not annoyingly so. After being somewhat pleased with her appearance, she walked over to the crate where she had left the rest of the bread she had gotton from Nana last night, and snatched it up. She broke off a few pieces and ate them with less delight than yesterday, bread was always better when it was fresh.

She stood holding her bread when suddenly she heard something outside her door, and was immidiately annoyed.

_Who comes to my house this early in the morning..._

She set her bread down on the crate again as she narrowed her eyes at the door, then walked silently to it, not wanting whoever was out there to know she had heard them. When she reached the door, she held one hand at ready incase she needed to defend herself from whoever was out there, which wasn't unlikely. Just as she was about to fling the door open, she had a realization.

_What if it's Ash..?_

She quickly brushed her fingers through her hair once more before flinging the door open with much more force than necessary to reveal a very charming looking Ash holding a gigantic boquet and smiling like a fool. Nuri didn't want him to think she enjoyed being in his company, so she continued to act annoyed.

"What." She said plainly, looking very disdainful.

"Do you always open doors like that?" Ash asked while flashing her a very large grin.

"Only when you're around." She answered, no emotion in her voice whatsoever.

Nuri had learned not to get attached to anyone, or let anyone know you feel anything, because they are going to end up crushing you anyway. Just the way her father had..

Ash didn't seem phased by her mood, but pressed on. "I brought you some flowers!"

Nuri raised her eyebrows, "Of course you did."

She snatched the boquet out of his hands and went into the stable to put them into her filthy bucket of water left over from the last time she had picked flowers, which had been a **long** time ago. She returned to the doorway and looked outside to see that the sun had started to rise.

"We should get going to the palace." She said, starting in the direction of the royal palace. Ash walked up from behind her, his long strides easily keeping pace with hers.

"I'm kinda nervous." Ash said, looking at Nuri expectantly.

"I'm not. I'm excited." She said, not looking at him, her eyes locked ahead of her.

"What's your problem?" He asked, still looking at her expectantly.

She immediately felt a twinge of guilt, he had been very nice to her. He even brought her flowers. She didn't have to block him out, at least not today.

"I'm sorry.. I just get like this sometimes." She said, still looking ahead.

Ash chuckled, "I know what you mean, we all have our cranky mornings."

Nuri laughed and gave him a playful shove, "_Cranky mornings_?"

"Well what did you call that then?" He teased, "If that wasn't cranky, I would hate to see what is!"

"Oh shut up."

"Temper temper!" He teased again.


End file.
